Hi friends! For several years now, my family has been packing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. These shoeboxes are filled with gifts--hygiene items like toothbrushes and soap, school supplies, clothing articles, and fun toys--and distributed by Samaritan's Purse along with the gospel message. If you haven't packed a box yet, I'd highly encourage you to. It's a great way to share the love of Jesus with children around the world, plus it's lots of fun. It's collection week now, so don't wait. (For ideas of what to pack, see my blog post from last year here.)
And now, I'd like to share with you a couple of stories from the Samaritan's Purse website of how God has used these shoebox gifts.
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This is for all my fellow girls who have younger siblings. It’s for me, too, because I need to be reminded of these truths. I have two younger sisters and two younger brothers. No matter how many younger siblings you have, I hope you’ll be encouraged by these truths I’ve learned. Realize the Impact You Have I think many of us older sisters often don’t realize just how close our younger siblings are watching us and following our example. We have a huge impact on their lives just by how we live our lives. When we seek to follow Christ with all our hearts, they’ll see that, and maybe, just maybe, it will encourage them to live for Him, too. Realize the Blessing They Are Too often, we look on our younger brothers and sisters as a burden instead of the blessing they are. What if we realized they are our best friends? This is something my parents have always taught me. It’s easy—since they’re younger than and not as talented as us mature young women—to not see their skills, talents, and strengths, but only their childishness. It’s easy to forget that not too long ago, we were their age and maturity. It’s also easy to forget that we still need to grow spiritually, too. So, ask the Lord to help you see them as a blessing. Your Mission Field Starts Here
Another thing my parents have taught me is that your mission field starts at home. And for us older sisters, our mission field includes our younger siblings. It doesn’t end there; we should share the gospel with the lost and reach out to the poor and oppressed. (I wrote a whole book about that. Click here to learn more about my book Do Justly.) But, as Christians, everything we do is an opportunity to serve the Lord. Wherever we are is our mission field. And for many of us, at home with our siblings is where we are most of the time. When you play with your younger brothers and sisters, look on it as a ministry. It may seem small compared to other ministry opportunities, but Jesus said, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much.” And it is really far more important than we may realize. When You Fall Short None of us are perfect. We’ll all make mistakes in our relationships with our siblings. And when we do, we just ask God’s forgiveness and theirs, and move on. I know. It’s hard to ask forgiveness from anybody, but it’s especially hard to ask your little brother to forgive you. But it’s what God says to do. And, you know what, when your younger sibling sees that you’re willing to apologize, they just might be more willing to apologize, too. Well, always remember, “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it,” (1 Th. 5:24). All for Him, Savannah Jane Operation Christmas Child blog post
Hi friends! For the past several years, my family has been packing Operation Christmas Child boxes. It’s getting to be that time of year again. (I just love Christmastime!) For those of you that don’t know, an Operation Christmas Child box is a shoebox filled with gifts which is distributed by the ministry Samaritan’s Purse, along with the gospel message, to needy children around the world. I’d like to share some ideas with you today for packing your box. Pick your age range—2-4 year old, 5-9 year old, or 10-14 year old—and whether you want to pack for a boy or girl. Pick a “wow” item such as a stuffed animal, a soccer ball with pump, a backpack or other fun item. Then fill your box with:
Some tips for saving money:
Pray for the child, that they will be blessed by the gifts, and that, most importantly, they will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Visit samaritanspurse.org/occ to find a drop-off location and more information. Remember, “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it,”(1 Th. 5:24). All for Him, Savannah There are opportunities to serve all around us, right in front of us. We just don’t always see them. Too often, we are distracted by our own wants and dreams or some lofty idea of how we would like to serve God, that we miss the opportunities to serve Him right in front of us.
In our lives, every day, there are little siblings to love, our families to serve, and people in need of prayer and encouragement. And, human trafficking, abortion, orphans, it’s not just “over there”, it’s in this very country, maybe even your own neighborhood. Then, there’s the elderly in nursing homes, there’s the prisons, there’s the sick… the “least of these” are truly right in front of us. Every day is an opportunity to serve and point others to Christ. We just need to ask for His eyes to see them and His grace to serve those He’s called us to serve. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45 God often asks us to do hard things. In fact, as true followers of Jesus, we'll be doing hard things all the time. In Luke 9:23, Jesus says, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."
It's hard to deny yourself. It's hard to take up a cross. It's hard to live like Jesus did. It's hard to keep a passion for justice ablaze permanently and not just for a short time. It's hard to love someone who shows you no love in return. It's hard to stand for what is right when no one else is. It's hard to keep praying when it seems like your prayer is going unanswered. It's hard to be kind and polite to that person who's rude to you. It's hard to let go of what you want to do so that you can serve someone else. It's hard to speak the truth that no one wants to hear. It's hard to forgive someone who hurt you. It;s hard to be joyful when things don't go the way you wanted them to. It's hard to be unselfish and serve when no one sees and no one says thank you. It's just hard. Actually, it's impossible. But God is calling us to live this impossible life. It's not about obeying a list of rules. It's that we love Jesus and He says, "If you love Me, keep My commandments," John 14:15. But we can't. No matter how hard we try, we'll never be able to. In our own strength, we can't. But God is not asking us to do these things in our own strength. He never gives us commands without also enabling us to obey them. He wants to give us His strength. He wants to fill us with His power and do through us what we could never do on our own. "Without Me, you can do nothing," Jesus says in John 15:5. And as Corrie ten Boom once said, "When I try, I fail. When I trust, He succeeds." When we have Jesus Christ living inside us, we have the power to live a life that would otherwise be impossible. We will become people who love and serve our families, pray and keep praying because we know God will answer, do justly, love mercy, walk humbly, rescue the oppressed, stand for what is right, no matter the cost, share the gospel... to put it simply we reflect Jesus Christ in every area of our lives and we will do it all, as C.T. Studd says, "with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts." No, these things will not save us; what we do will not get us to heaven, as some people believe. We are saved by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ. It is His atoning work on the cross that rescues us from sin and death. But when we give our lives to Jesus Christ, we can't go on living the same way anymore. Our lives now belong to Him and the way we live should reflect that. No, we won't do it perfectly. We'll make mistakes. And when we do, we'll seek His grace and start again. So, let us go and live this impossible life, not in our own strength, but in His. "'Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts." Zechariah 4:6 |
Hi! I'm Savannah Jane...I'm the author of several books for children and young adults with a passion to encourage young people to live for Jesus. The third born in an amazing family of seven children, I was homeschooled all the way through. This is where I share encouragement for Christian girls, updates about my books, writing tips, book and movie reviews, and assorted other tidbits. Archives
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Quote"When I try, I fail. When I trust, He succeeds."
-Corrie ten Boom I'm on GoodReadsFollow my family's writing, illustrating, and publishing business/ministry.Follow my blog on Bloglovin' |